Log Box

[Herb Stoops]

My friend Duane had a bad accident while camping out. A huge wind storm came up and he was standing talking with his friends when this cedar tree fell on him from behind. He is all crippled up now, and in a wheel chair. He asked me to make him something out of a block cut from the tree,so I made him a log box.
Herb

[Stick486]

SWEET!!!
how did you do/make the hinges and latch pivots Herb???...

[HandyDan]

I like that box. The wood hinges really add to the charm.

[RainMan]

That is really impressive Herb, and something I’ve never seen before . As mentioned, the hinges really add to it. I’m surprised your buddy requested this , as I thought he’d get bad memories from logs for some reason

[Nickp]

That is one ingeniously creative use of the tree...and so sorry to hear of your friend's unfortunate accident.

[Herb Stoops]

SWEET!!!
how did you do/make the hinges and latch pivots Herb???...

Wooden hinges and hasp latches are easy to make. Just like making a box joint and rounding the corners ,drilling a hole and using a nail or small dowel for a pin. They can then be contoured on the back side to fit the contour of the box and glued /screwed on. the eye bolt on the latch has a round shank so a hole can be drilled thru the side of the box and the eye bolt glued into the hole. Makes a sturdy connection.
I have made many, and they all look different because the logs each have their own characteristics.
I started it years ago with slab wood from the little one man saw mills, But firewood rounds like this one work too.
Cedar bark gets loose, so I glued it back on with Titebound II.
But these boxes without bark look good too.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

The design reminds me of the Flintstones cartoons.

I remember going to work one morning back in my logging days and when we got to the bush it was blowing like crazy. The wood we were logging was 2 foot diameter plus spruce trees and for the roughly 45 minutes we stayed out in the open by our vehicles we watched probably a couple dozen more blow down on top of the old ones. It wasn't letting up by then so we headed home. One crew we heard of wasn't as lucky as us. They left to go home around the same time we did but didn't make it home until about 12 hours later. They had lots of trees that had fallen on the road. They said it was scary as hell bucking them up to move them out of the way because as they were cutting those others were falling, often blocking their path backwards.

[Herb Stoops]

I used to call them 'Flintstone" boxes, Chuck.

What started it all for me was a friend of my wife's who had retired and bought this land back in the woods had a huge log cabin built near a river. She brought some of the wood trimmed off the logs and asked me to make something for her house. She liked to cook, so I made her a recipe box for her card recipes. Like the small ones below. Then all the women wanted them and one friend wanted a dark red one so I stained it red Mahogany. I picked up a Maple slab and made the large one.
Herb

[Stick486]

YOU ARE GOOD!!! Herb...

[old55]

Beautifully done Herb.

[DaninVan]

Those are impressive! You've got that hinge thing down to an art-form, herb